'Earlier people voted for me because of my father's
name. But now they are voting for me because of my achievements'

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Aligarh

The goodwill the lady has earned among the
electorate is, without exaggeration,
astounding: Be it Brahmin,
scheduled caste
or Bania, in Aligarh they all want to vote for Sheela
Gautam, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.

"Of course, I am voting for her,"
says Ram Sonkar, a tea stall owner at Ramaghat,
in a tone which leaves no room for doubt, "India can have a stable government only under Vajpayee's leadership. Its condition will improve only if
we have MPs like Sheela Gautam."

Aligarh, which witnessed bloody riots in the late 1980s and during
L K Advani's rath yatra in 1990, has remained peaceful since Gautam became the MP in 1991. The Ram mandir is not an issue this election. But a distinct BJP wave
is clearly visible in most Hindu areas.
Party workers are upbeat as they feel that Captain Baldev Singh, the
Samajwadi Party candidate, has blotted his reputation in Aligarh after
he left the BJP to contest on a SP ticket.

Captain Singh -- whose filmstar son Chandrachur Singh campaigned for him briefly this time -- joined the BJP after he lost
the election in 1991
against Gautam by a narrow margin. He was then contesting on a Janata Dal ticket. A Thakur by caste, he expected a BJP ticket this time, but was disappointed. Whereupon he joined the SP.

Although Gautam won this seat by nearly 100,000 votes in 1996, she may face a setback if the 200,000-strong Thakur community, along with the 250,000-Muslim crowd, favour Captain Singh.

Says Yasin Qureshi, a local SP leader: "Gautam's advantage
in 1991 was the Ram wave. In 1996, her main opponent was Abdul
Khaliq from the Bahujan Samaj Party. So, except Muslims and some Jatavs,
no other community voted for him while all the other communities
voted for her."

The constituency is divided into five assembly
segments -- Aligarh city, Baroli, Inglar, Khair and Koil. Of these, three constituencies are with the BJP,
one with the Loktantrik Congress and
the last -- Aligarh city -- by the SP.

But Gautam's candidature has its critics, too. Mainly among the Muslims who, despite
agreeing she is a better nominee than Captain Singh,
feel she is a right person in a wrong party.

"Gautam often calls at the Aligarh
Muslim University hospital to ask the
wellbeing of patients," says a doctor there, "But our community will not
vote for
her as she is a BJP candidate."

Her major achievements are starting up two daily train services
from Aligarh to Delhi, and building new schools in villages.

Gautam left the Congress in 1990
when Mulayam Singh's government
fired at kar sevaks in Ayodhya.

"I felt it was not right to open fire at innocent people," she says, "The Congress which was supporting the
Mulayam government should have taken some action
against it."

Born in a Brahmin family in 1931, the daughter of a freedom
fighter and Congress minister , Mohan Lal
Gautam, she began her career in politics in
1980 by becoming the Aligarh Congress women's wing president.

"She was always helpful to the poor right from the
beginning," recalls Gauri Shankar, who was once
a Congress supporter
but now diligently votes for the BJP.

Another advantage which the BJP
candidate has is the respect which her
father had earned in Aligarh. During his tenure, he had built three hospitals and
many roads there.

"Earlier people voted for me because of my father's
name. But now, by God's virtue, they are voting for me
because of my achievements," Gautam says.